This photo provided by SK Telecom Co. on Nov. 25, 2020, shows the company’s new SAPEON X220 artificial intelligence semiconductor.
DAEJEON, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is positioned in the third spot after the U.S. and China in the area of patent applications for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, a report from the country’s patent office showed Tuesday.
According to an analysis conducted by the Korea Intellectual Property Office along with the Center for Economic Catch-up, the U.S. (37 percent) and China (36 percent) dominated global patent applications for AI chips (first to third generation) during the period from 2006 to 2020.
Following behind were South Korea at 8 percent, Japan at 6 percent and Taiwan at 2 percent.
In the area of first and second generation AI semiconductors, South Korea is competing fiercely with China, Japan and Taiwan for the second spot.
When it comes to next generation neuromorphic computing chips, South Korea overtook Japan and Taiwan to grab the No. 2 spot by a large margin.
This can be interpreted as a positive signal that South Korea could take the lead on the back of neuromorphic technology in the future, despite the fact that it currently lags slightly behind in AI semiconductor technology.
Existing superpowers in semiconductors and computing, including Intel Corp., IBM Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., grabbed the top spots in overall AI chip applications.
In the next-generation neuromorphic area, Samsung and SK hynix Inc. ranked No. 2 and No. 5, respectively.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
